So I've successfully completed 3 fixed price jobs so far but I'm wondering if I'm doing it wrong. What I *think* I'm supposed to be doing is accepting the "write an article for me" contract, then I write the article, then I send it via upwork messenger to the client asking for their feedback, they say 'looks good', and then I submit it for payment.

But, I now haven't heard back from someone (it's only been 48 hours but they were super communicative prior to me completing the work so it got me thinking) and I was wondering - if someone asks me to write an article for them, should I just write it and submit it for payment without asking the client what they think of it? What do people normally do?

What I found most helpful is sending the work (whether it was preview or final) to the client and noting in the message to 'review and let me me know if you have any additional comments'. Then the client can eiher approve or request for changes on the milestone. That way your end is secure that you submitted the work.

Jessica, you did everything right. Perhaps your client was offline during the weekend. But if I were you, I'd go ahead and request milestone approval, along with a polite message -- perhaps something like you're doing this for record keeping purposes -- so in the worst case, the milestone will be automatically approved in 14 days.

re: "...then I send it via upwork messenger to the client asking for their feedback, they say 'looks good', and then I submit it for payment."

You are not violating any Upwork rules by doing it this way.

But that is not what I do.

That is not really how the user interface is intended to be used, either.

The way I personally do it is I finish a project, and (because I am the professional who was hired by the client), I know when the requested work is done.

So when it is done, THEN I submit it using the official "Submit Work / Request Payment" button.

Doing THAT presents the client with an opportunity to request changes.

Maybe not every freelancer is comfortable doing that. Maybe they want to check with the client first. But for me, what works well is NOT CHECKING with the client first, but submitting the work when it is done.

If the client does nothing, then I will get paid automatically, without any delays waiting for a client to respond to messages.

I think it is NATURAL for new freelancers to want to ask the freelancer if the work they submit is acceptable. There is a certain amount of deference there.

That's not a bad thing. We want to be polite and professional with clients.

But the way I look at it is this: The official button we use to submit our work literally does all this for us. It is Upwork's automated way of telling a client that we finished what they asked, while at the same time asking them to review the work and let us know if something needs to be changed. It even provides a button they can use to ask for changes.

So I don't think it is in any way presumptuous to use that button. Using the button AND sending a message actually just complicates things by doing the same thing twice.

Maybe submitting work through the 'Request Payment' method within your field of expertise works, but when it's something creative or subjective, such as writing, art or musical composition, it doesn't really work as intended.

Sure, as a proffesional writer, I know when the work is done subjectively, but the clients perspective might be different. Maybe they want a different voice or tone, maybe they want to make small edits here and there. Going through the 'Request Payment' method tends to complicate this process.

There's also an issue that most clients are not, for the lack of a better term, proffesional clients. That means that they are not necessarily aware of the intricacies of Upwork's various systems. You can't imagine the number of contracts I've seen where the client flat out says they have no idea what they should be paying.

This issue is compounded by the fact that one bad piece of feedback can tank your JSS. If you request payment on a work that a client might expect to be edited, but where it's not necessarily indicated, can cause your JSS to drop like it's in a bottomless pit.

As a writer who's been on this site since 2014, here's my tips:

- Agree beforehand with the client the number of edits you are going to do. This gaurentees that you aren't going to be doing several edits for a difficult client.

- Present your work for approval before submitting it for payment.

- If the client doesn't respond, wait a couple of days. If they still don't respond *then* submit what you have for payment.

- If the client *does* respond, then alter it according to your agreement until the client gives the green light, then submit for payment.

Unfortunately, the truth is you have to bend over backword for clients if you're in a field like writing. The market is saturated, and finding good, long term contracts is pretty hard. Ultimately, you need to chase that high JSS to stand out, and that means that sometimes you are going to get screwed over.

As a freelancer, you have to assume a certain amount of loss from uncopoerative clients.

I usually do the same - send the work via messages and the client approves the milestone. For me, it was just a natural progression as I usually communicate with clients through messages for ongoing projects and I just pop the work there for approval. If the client needs a nudge I 'submit' the work officially, with a polite message.